1 Kilo Perth Mint Lunar Silver Coin

The 1 Kilo Perth Mint Lunar Silver Coin

The 1 kilo Lunar is the largest regularly stocked coin in the Perth Mint's silver zodiac programme: 32.15 troy ounces of fine silver in a single piece, with the annually changing lunar design rendered at 101mm across in its Series I specification. It exists for two kinds of buyer. The first wants silver weight at coin-level legitimacy: a kilo coin from a government mint, legal tender with a $30 AUD face value, rather than a private refiner's bar. The second wants the year's zodiac animal at maximum scale, since the large flan shows the design detail that smaller denominations compress.

On cost, kilo coins occupy a middle ground. Kilo silver bars from major refiners carry some of the lowest premiums in retail bullion, in the 3 to 6% range, while 1 kg silver coins like the Lunar carry collector premiums above bar prices. You pay for the sovereign mint strike and the annual design. Against smaller Lunar coins, though, the kilo buys silver more efficiently per ounce than the 1 oz or 2 oz Lunar denominations.

The one structural drawback is liquidity granularity: a kilo coin sells as a single transaction, with no way to liquidate part of the position. Buyers who expect to sell in stages are better served by tubes of the 1 oz Lunar silver coin, the programme's most popular denomination.

1 Kilo Lunar Silver Coin Specifications

The kilo is the second-largest silver denomination in the Lunar range; only the 10 kilo coin exceeds it. Purity follows the programme's evolution: 99.9% fine through Series I and the 2008 to 2016 portion of Series II, upgraded to 99.99% from 2017, and four nines throughout Series III (2020 to 2031).

Series III coins add the programme's modern security package: a micro-laser engraved letter detectable under magnification, the small P mintmark for Perth within the reverse design, and a precision radial line background. Series I and II kilos predate these features, so older coins are authenticated on weight, dimensions, and strike quality. The reverse carries the year's zodiac animal with Chinese characters; the obverse has tracked the monarchy from Queen Elizabeth II portraits by Maklouf, Rank-Broadley, and Clark through to King Charles III from 2024.

Tax on the 1 Kilo Lunar Silver Coin by Country

A kilo of silver is a four-figure purchase in most currencies, so the tax treatment moves real money.

• Australia: GST-free as investment-grade silver, which requires 99.9% purity; Lunar silver meets this across all series. CGT applies on disposal with a 50% discount for holdings over 12 months.
• United Kingdom: 20% VAT on new silver, a significant cost at kilo scale. No CGT exemption, since the coin carries no sterling face value. Pre-owned examples sold under the margin scheme avoid most of the VAT hit.
• United States: No federal sales tax; most states exempt bullion, and several of the remaining states apply thresholds (New York and Massachusetts exempt transactions over $1,000, a level a silver kilo can reach). Meets the IRS 99.9% fineness floor for IRAs. Gains outside an IRA are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28%.
• Canada: GST/HST-exempt as silver refined above the federal 99.9% threshold.
• New Zealand and Singapore: GST-exempt in both, each requiring 99.9% silver purity; Singapore additionally has no capital gains tax.
• European Union: Full local VAT on new silver in most member states; Germany's margin scheme on pre-owned coins is the common workaround.

The Largest Stocked Coin in a 30-Year Programme

The Perth Mint launched the Lunar programme in 1996, the first major mint to celebrate the Chinese lunar calendar in bullion, with silver joining the gold coins from 1999. The kilo denomination dates from Series I, when the silver range was built out from 1/2 oz up to a 10 kilo flagship, and it has remained in production through Series II (2008 to 2019) and Series III (2020 to 2031).

Each series is a full 12-year zodiac cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig, with the reverse design changing every year. Series I designs were simpler and more traditional, with dotted borders and stylised cloud motifs; Series II grew more complex, sometimes showing multiple animals; Series III carries the most intricate compositions alongside the programme's first real security features. The kilo's large flan has always been the showcase format for these designs.

The silver itself improved mid-programme: a purity upgrade from 99.9% to 99.99% arrived in 2017, three years before Series III began. Dragon years (2000, 2012, 2024) have been the consistent demand peaks across all cycles, and early Series I coins are the scarcest in the programme. The series was designed with Asian-Pacific buyers in mind, and demand from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia remains central to how quickly each year's release moves.

1 Kilo Lunar vs Koala, Kookaburra, and Kilo Bars

The nearest competitor comes from inside the Perth Mint: the 1 kilo Silver Koala is the mint's other annually redesigned kilo coin, produced mint-to-order without a cap since 2018. Both deliver a kilogram of Australian legal tender silver with a fresh design each year; the choice is largely thematic, zodiac animal versus koala, though the Lunar's three-series history and zodiac collector base give it the deeper secondary market. The mint's Kookaburra range also includes a kilo and predates the Koala by 17 years.

The other comparison is against kilo bars. A 1 kilo silver bar from a recognised refiner is the cheaper way to hold the same metal, with premiums in the 3 to 6% range, among the lowest in retail silver. The Lunar kilo costs more per ounce because it is a struck coin with a government guarantee, a face value, and an annual design that can add resale value above melt in popular years. Buyers treating silver purely as metal should buy the bar; buyers who want the collectible layer, or coins that may sell above melt later, pay the coin premium.

No North American sovereign mint offers an equivalent: the kilo coin format is essentially an Australian speciality, which is why the Lunar and Koala dominate the category.